category: Poetry

Covenant Again

By Rachael Keefe

Covenant An invitation to join in the eternal dance, to wrap our lives with sacred song, to be still and known and loved Everlasting, unbreakable, irreversible no matter what we do or don’t do, a gift offered to the whole of Creation All any of us has to do is …

Covenant Again

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Covenant

An invitation to join in the eternal dance,
to wrap our lives with sacred song,
to be still and known and loved

Everlasting, unbreakable, irreversible
no matter what we do or don’t do,
a gift offered to the whole of Creation

All any of us has to do is accept –
accept the love, the forgiveness, the mercy –
and hold nothing back

That’s the hard part.

We want to hold everything back
most of the time and can hardly believe
that we are loved by a God
so steadfast, so enduring, so merciful
as to claim us and call us Beloved

The rhythm of the universe sings praises
to guide us to the sacred promise
that can save us from our selves
if we are willing to risk everything
to gain everything

Yet something in us resists the idea
that we are made in love for love,
that we don’t need hatred, fear, or violence
we just don’t sit still long enough
or often enough to know

God waits for us
over and over again
God waits for us
for us to return to the eternal dance

RCL – Year B – Second Sunday of Lent – March 1, 2015
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38 or Mark 9:2-9

Photo from Pixabay.com. Used with permission.

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About Rachael Keefe

Rachael is an author, a pastor, a teacher, and a poet. Her latest book (The Lifesaving Church - Chalice Press) is on faith and suicide prevention. She is currently the pastor of Living Table UCC in Minneapolis, and has launched a spiritual direction practice.

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